PENELOPE LIVELY AND BIG SMALL DECISIONS

Penelope Lively
The idea that our entire lives can be shaped by early, small decisions is the lifelong subject of British author Penelope Lively’s novels. When you think of it, it makes sense. If forty years ago a long-lost boyfriend hadn’t recognized me on the Eastshore Freeway and chosen the same off-ramp, we wouldn’t have re-met, married and created the family we have today.

Lively has written several novels, including Moon Tiger (winner of the Booker Prize), How It All Began and a children’s book, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (Carnegie Medal). For more on this fine writer, read here.

Robert Frost
As long as we’re on the subject, Robert Frost captured the idea of the impact of small decisions in his famous poem:

Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Megan Cahn
The always interesting A Cup of Jo this week included this article by Megan Cahn, “Is Your Cat Your Best Friend?” You know where I stand on this. Just last week I caught myself telling CatmanDeux, as I was going out the door, exactly when I expected to return. Some of us confuse our cats with our humans.

CatmanDeux

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About Alexis

Alexis Rankin Popik, author of Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate, is an award-winning short story writer whose work has appeared in The Berkshire Review and Potpourri Magazine. She has penned numerous articles about local history that have been published in Connecticut Explored and the University of Connecticut School of Law and The Hartford Seminary publications. A former union organizer, Popik traveled the country educating shipyard workers about health and safety and founded a labor-management health plan before turning to writing fiction full-time. She lives with her husband in New England.